Wooden shovel



(No Model.) n

IBLSTBGNER.

Y WOODEN SHOVBLI No. 281,158. Patented July 10, 1883.

N. PETERS, Phmo-gnpkwr. Washington. Dy C.

UNI-Tan STATES `arnNr Fries.

FREDERICK A. STEGNERCOF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

WOODEN SHOVEL.

SPIEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 281,158, dated July10, 1883. application mea March 15, issa. (No man.;

To @ZZ whoml t may concern:

. Be it known that I, FREDERICK A. S'rncnnn, of Cincinnati, in thecounty of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have inventedrcertain new anduseful Improvements in looden Shovels, of which the following is aspecification.

' The invention relates particularly to that class of wooden shovelstermed ,maltshovels, and used for the turning of grain in theinalting-chamber or elsewhere, in preparing it for brewing, but isadapted for very general app'lication where wooden shovels are used.

Heretofore these malt and kindred shovels have been made either ofasingle piece of Wood, both handle and blade being integral, whichinvolved great waste and loss of mat-e5 rial, since the piece from whichtheshovel was formed must be selected with reference to procuring bothhandle and blade practically With-- out flaw, and much or all of thebreadth alongside the handle must be sacriced; or else the blade hasbeen made of one piece, of sufficient width and length for the purpose,and of course chosen, as before', with reference to its freedom fromflaw or blemish, and the handle of ascparate piece riveted to the blade.In these latter, besides the still present margin ofwaste, the jointbetween handle and blade is liable to soon become loose, and themetallic fastenings necessarily used rapidly increase the defeet bytheir constant abrasion as the parts workagainst each other. When theblade is of an integral piece, also, vthe shovel becomes worthless assoon as the :edge or toe is worn thin or uneven, and must be thrownaway. To remedy this it has heretofore been proposed to apply aremovable toe, which, when worn, can be detached and replaced byvanother. In order to attach'this toe, ametallic socket has been rivetedto vthelower edge of the blade, extending transversely thereacross andreceiving the rear or inner 4part of the toe-piece, which has invariablybeen of slight depth', in

itsgroove or dovetaihwhich runs from side to "Iside of said blade. Y.joint the full width of the blade, and besides There is thus a metallicthe greater cost due to such a construction and the wear incidental tothe wooden surfaces v from the abrasive action ofthe material being andits securing-rii-fets; when, too, the union of said socket with theblade once becomes insecure, the shovel is practically beyond repair.

Instead ofthe constructions above explained, I propose to form thewooden blade of the shovel of several pieces, united by (loWel-pins orequivalent means, and bound by metallic straps on the lateral edges, thehandle being a prolongation of a central piece bound up with others inthe vbody of the blade. This permits small pieces of material, which arereadily found without defect or blemish, and which otherwise would bewasted, to be worked up in the shovel; or, in cutting large stock, itenables all defections to be avoided and the perfect parts to be laidout and utilized to the greatest economy and advantage. It also insuresan all-wood joint between the handle and blade of the strongestcharacter, making the handle practically integral with the blade, anddistributing the strain as if it were actually integral. I also proposeto uniteto a handleand blade, either of such construction or formed inone integral piece or otherwise, a removable toe-piece, connected withthe edge of the blade by means of dowel-pins, and fun ther secured andfastened by tongued or recessed prolongations of metallic bindingstraps,which embrace the lateral edges of both blade and toe-piece, and bycatches or screws passing through said prolongations into the materialof the toe-piece.

In the drawings, Figure l is an elevation of a wooden shovel, wherein,for the purpose of illustration, the handle and blade are integral,showing one form of binding-strap and fastening for securing theremovable toe-piece; and Fig. 2, a transverse section of the same. Fig.3 is a like elevation of a shovel, wherein the handle and blade are madein a number 'of pieces, and, by way of further illustration, a differentbut equivalent form of binding-strap and catch or fastening forretaining the removable toe-piece is shown; and Fig. 4, a transversesection of the same.

Ais the blade, andB the handle, of a wooden shovel. So far as the use ofthe removable toe is concerned, these may be made together, of a singlepiece, as in Fig. l, and the toe secured thereto by either form ofbinding-strap shown ,in the figures and hereinafter described, or

IOO

l i i 2s: iasl their equivalents. For reasons previously y given itwill, however, be often desirable to construct handle andblade ofmultiplex pieces; and in Fig.4 3 I have-indicated the` best mode ofdoing thisA as yet known to me. In said iigure the blade is ,composedofthree piecesa central piece, I), integral with the handle, and twoiivanking pieces, a-rights and leftsjoined to the iirst by dowel-pins athrough their meeting edges. To more firmly bind them togethermetallicstraps G are applied to the external lateral edges of the blade,running from the base of the handle proper down toward the working-edge,and secured by nails or screws c, passing into each individual piece.Should a removable toe not be employed, these three pieces, with theirbinding-straps, may constitute the whole shovel; or a fourth permanentpiece, corresponding to the toe D herein shown, and, like it, integralthe whole width of the blade, may be applied at the end of the threesections, and united with them. by dowel-pinssuch as the pins d-passinginto each section, thus preventing` said sections from spreading apartat their lower ends. The straps C will of course be prolonged to em`brace the toe-piece, and secured thereto by nails or screws. Preferably,however, the toepiece will be removable, whether from this sectionalblade or from the integral blade, and to this end it will not be gluedor permanently fastened to the dowelpins d, projecting from the bottomedge of the blade, but will be provided with sockets to snugly receivethe ends of said pins, else, but less conveniently, the pins will bepermanently secured to the toepiece and sockets formed in the blade. Itwill also have at its lateral edges y either a bulge or rib, d', to takeinto the quasi-tubular sleeves c', afforded by extensions or prolongations of the metallic binding-straps, or an equivalent groove, d2, toreceive a tongue or dovetail, cl, from such extensions. Whichever isused, the sleeve or the tongue, it will be advisable to give itsufiicient length to inclose or take into a portion of the blade proper,so that the parts may be well braced at the point of union. As thusconstructed, after the toe has been inserted and driven home, it will besecured for the period of its usefulness either by screws c, such asbefore mentioned, passing through the binding-strap and into its body,or by spring pins or catches c, entering into it through said straps,and composed, for eX- aniple, of a plate-spring riveted at one end tothe strap, and a pin borne on the other end of said spring and enteringthrough a snug bore in the strap into a socket in the toepiece. When thetoe has become so worn as to no longer be of use, the fastening-screwwill be removed or the catches withdrawn, and it will be pulled out andreplaced by a new one of identical shape or construction, which will besecured by the screws or catches, as before.

It is evident that instead of the dowel-pins connecting the blade andremovable toe-piece:

`a tongue and groove extending'transversely along the edges ofthe twomaybevused, the lateral binding-straps remaining the same;

and, also,that when dowel-pins Vare employed the position of themetallic straps may, under some circumstances, be changed to bring thembeneath the tongue and toepiece,instead of at the lateral edges. Suchmodiiications, therefore, although not deemed so invariably desirable asthe hereinbefore j-described constructions, are to Y be consideredvwithin the principle 'of my invention.

l claim as my invention- 1. A wooden shovel having its blade eomposed ofcentral and iianking sections, substantially as described. v

2. A wooden shovel having its blade coniposed of central and flankingsections, and the handle integral with the central section,substantially as described.

3. A wooden shovel having its blade composed of central and flankingsections, the handle integral with the central section, and the wholeboundA by metallic straps on the external lateral edges of the blade. f

4. The combination, with a wooden shovel having its blade composed ofcentral and anking sections united together, of a toe-piece integral thewhole width of the blade and united to the foot of each section by adowel pin or pins.

5. The combination, with a wooden shovel having its blade composed ofcentral and flanking sections united together, of a toe-piece integralthe whole width of the blade and united to the foot of each section by adowel pin or pins, and metallic binding-straps secured to the lateraledges of the blade and toe-piece.

6. The combination, with'a wooden shovel having its blade composed ofcentral and Hanking sections united together by dowel-pins, and itshandle integral with the central section, of a toe-piece integral thewhole width of the blade and united to the foot of each section by adowel pin or pins, and metallic binding-straps secured to the lateraledges of the blade and toe-piece.

7. The combination, with the blade of a wooden shovel, of a removabletoe-piece having sockets to receive dowel-pins from the foot of saidblade, and metallic straps and fastenings binding it to the blade whenit has been driven home upon the dowel-pins.

8. rllhe combination, with the blade of a wooden shovel, of a removabletoe-piece having sockets to receive snugly dowelpins projecting from thefoot of said blade, 'metallic straps secured to the lateral edges of theblade.. and receiving and bracing the lateral edges of said toe-piece,and removable fastenings passing throughsaid straps into the material ofthe toe-piece.

9. The=-combination, with the' blade of a wooden shovel, of a removabletoe-piece aligned with said blade along the contiguous edges by suitableguiding and steadying instrumentali- IOO ties, binding-strpe Securedtothe lateral edge of the blade and'embreeing the laterel edges` of thetoe'- piece, and fastenings extending through Seid Straps into thetoe-piece.

l0.` The combination, with the blade of a Wooden shovel, of a removabletoe-piece having sockets to receive snugly doWel-pins from the foot ofsaid blade, and lateral, ribs or` enlargements, and metallicbinding-Straps Secured to the lateral edges of the' blade, and providedwith Sleeves which take over and clasp said ribs, and also clasp aportion ofthe bladen-t the junction of the toe-piece therewith.

11. As :L new article Ofrnzmufacture, :i Wooden toe-piece for Woodenshovels, having sockets formed therein for dOWel-pins secured to theblade, and liti-,eral ribs or grooves to receive sleeves orV tonguesfrom metallic bindingstraps, as set forth.

FREDERICK A. STEGNER.

Vitnesses: Y

FRANK W'. BURNHAM, vWILLIAM S. Som/IAL.

